Long before 1914, Moses commanded the people of God are to “honor your father and mother” (Ex. 20:12).

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and I plan to be honoring my wonderful mother, Bevy, and my beautiful bride, Jana, of 13 years who partners with me in the raising of our two precious children. I have tremendous respect for the role that mothers occupy in this world. As a kid, I didn’t know what I had being raised by Bevy. Now, as a 37 year old, I can see that I was graced in more ways than I’ll ever know. With Jana, that blessing is multiplied again. Grace upon grace.

"An excellent wife, who can find?” asked King Lemuel (Prov. 31:10). An excellent woman, an excellent friend, and an excellent mother really is a treasure.

As a pastor preparing to preach on this special day, I’m very conscious of the fact that not everyone shares in the same joy that I have when thinking about Mother’s Day. There are all kinds of women in our church here in Seattle that feel very differently about this day and to roll past my sisters without stopping to listen, to think, and to pray for them betrays the very fact that they’re my family in Christ.

I want to encourage my brothers and sisters and others who, like me, will be ministering on Sunday to stay mindful that not everyone is jumping up and down to celebrate. This doesn’t mean that we don’t celebrate. It simply means that in our celebrating, we’re also thinking of one another and that is a beautiful expression of the gospel.

Some women:

have never married and are without children,

are single mothers,

have gone through miscarriage,

are widowed,

are infertile,

had terrible childhoods and no longer speak to their mothers.

For some ladies, Mother’s Day is a trigger that digs up deep pain and our God has a close eye on each moment, memory, and heartache (Psalm 56:8; 1 Peter 5:7). The Holy Spirit is the Great Comforter (John 14:26) and would have us "comfort one another” (2 Cor. 1:4). Paul tells us that we are to “Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).

As we head toward Sunday, may we keep our eyes on Jesus and seek to bless one another... be it with flowers or tears.